Having outlined the foundational principles and mechanics that make Scrumban successful, it’s time to discuss how teams and organizations can start employing Scrumban. Rolling out Scrumban doesn’t have to require a lot of effort. In fact, the approach outlined in this chapter can be completed in a single day.

Your Starting Condition

There are essentially three potential starting conditions for rolling out Scrumban:

You’re working with a team or organization for which both Scrum and Scrumban represent new ways of working.

You’re working with an existing Scrum team or organization that will use Scrumban to improve its mastery of the responsibilities and ceremonies associated with the Scrum framework.

You’re working with an existing Scrum team or organization that will use Scrumban to monitor performance, diagnose issues, and adapt existing practices to the form best suited for their context.

It’s best if all teams participating in a formal kickstart program share the same origin, but it won’t necessarily be fatal if they don’t.

When You’re New to Scrum

Scrum can be difficult to master, even though it is a relatively simple framework. Recognizing this reality, we’ve made Scrumban our chosen framework for introducing Scrum to teams and organizations for the first time.

Because Scrumban seeks to minimize the disruptions associated with imposing new definitions and responsibilities upon employees, rolling out Scrum under this framework is substantially different from traditional approaches. Rather than starting out with Scrum-specific orientation and training, we emphasize discovery of existing systems and processes, then use the framework to gradually introduce elements of Scrum as warranted by the context.

This gradual introduction can be both role based and process based. For instance, the “daily scrum” is a process-based change the team can begin to employ within the context of a Scrumban framework, just as new Scrum masters can be eased into their responsibilities one element at a time.1